Micah 6:7

Mic 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul?

Ver. 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?] It was taken for a maxim among all nations that no man was to come before God empty handed, nor to serve him of free cost. And although Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian made a law that no man should be at very great charge for a sacrifice, lest he should grow weary of God’s service; yet when the famous carver Phidias advised the Athenians to make the statue of Minerva rather of marble than of ivory, 1. Because more durable (this passed with allowance), 2. Because less chargeable, at the mention hereof, with infinite indignation, they commanded him silence. Pliny tells us of Alexander the Great, that when, as being yet a youth, he cast great store of frankincense upon the altar, and his schoolmaster told him he must not be so liberal till he had subdued the frankincense countries; when once he had conquered Arabia he sent his schoolmaster a shipfull of frankincense, largely exhorting him to worship the gods therewith. Superstition is, for the most part, not liberal only, but prodigal and no wonder, when as good works are by Bellarmine said to be mercatura regni coelestis the price and purchase of heaven. Hence their churches are so stuffed with vowed presents and memories, as at Loretto, and elsewhere, they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them. What would not men give, what will they not suffer, that they may be saved? I would swim through a sea of brimstone, said one, that I might come to heaven at last. But those that would buy heaven, and do offer, as these here, a bribe for a pardon, shall hear, Thy money perish with thee; and those that seek to be saved by their works Luther fitly calls the devil’s martyrs; they suffer much and take much pains to go to hell, they buy their damnation, as one saith the Pharisees did when they gave Judas those thirty pieces, for which he sold his salvation.

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, &c.] The superstitious Jews used, we know, to offer up their children in sacrifice to Moloch, or Saturn, 2Ki 17:15-17; 2Ki 21:5-7; 2Ki 23:10, and that in an apish imitation of Abraham’s offering his son Isaac. To the same Saturn the Phoenicians are said to have sacrificed the best of their sons (Euseb. Praep. Evang. lib. 4). So did the Carthaginians, as Diodorus Siculus testifies. And when as they had for a while left off so to do, and were overcome by Agathocles, they (supposing that the gods were therefore angry with them, because they had not done as formerly) slew two hundred at once, at the altar, of their young nobility, to pacify the offended deity. Of like sort were Anammelech and Adrammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim, unto whom that people "burnt their children in the fire," 2Ki 17:31. And little better were our ancestors, the old Britons, who not only sacrificed their strangers, but their children too, non ad honorem sed ad iniuriam religionis (Cared. Britan.). Here then the prophet seemeth to speak by way of concession, that he may show these questionists how little it would avail them to sacrifice their children, if such a thing were lawful to be done.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There is nothing so dear to man, but the hypocrites will offer it unto God, if they think thereby to avoid his anger: but they will never be brought to mortify their own affections, and to give themselves willingly to serve God as he commandeth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

rivers of oil--used in sacrifices (Lev 2:1, Lev 2:15). Will God be appeased by my offering so much oil that it shall flow in myriads of torrents?

my first-born-- (Kg2 3:27). As the king of Moab did.

fruit of my body--my children, as an atonement (Psa 132:11). The Jews offered human sacrifices in the valley of Hinnom (Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35; Eze 23:27).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams] These might be procured, though with difficulty; but conscience says neither will these do.

With ten thousands of rivers of oil] This is absurd and impossible; but could even these be procured, could they all make atonement for such guilt, and ingratitude, and rebellion?

Shall I give my first-born for my transgression] This was sinful and wicked; but such offerings had been made by the Phoenicians, and their successors the Carthaginians; and this very custom was copied by the corrupt Israelites. See some cases of such offerings, 2Kg 3:27; Le 20:27.

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?] This clause is an explanation of the former. Shall I make the first-born, the best and goodliest of my children, חטאת chattath, a SIN-OFFERING for my soul? And thus the original is used in a multitude of places.

When they had put all these questions to their reason and conscience, they found no satisfaction; their distraction is increased, and despair is about to take place, when Jehovah, the plaintiff, in his mercy interposes:

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) The fruit of my body.—Will God require the sacrifice of such a precious possession, as Isaac was to Abraham, to atone for my wrong-doing? There may possibly be an allusion to human sacrifices, such as Ahaz offered to Molech, or to the act of Mesha, King of Moab, who “took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up for a burnt offering upon the wall.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. with thousands of rams] With hecatombs, a Greek would have said. The calves are estimated by quality; the rams, by quantity.

rivers of oil] Or, ‘torrents of oil;’ like ‘brooks [torrents] of honey,’ Job_20:17.

my firstborn for my transgression] This is the climax of Israel’s offers; he will not withhold his most precious possession. The valley of Hinnom was for centuries defiled by sacrifices of children to the ‘devouring’ Fire-god, Moloch; a custom derived from ‘the nations whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel’ (2Ki_16:3). The narrative of the substitution of the ram for Isaac (Gen_22:13), and the law of the redemption of the firstborn of man (Exo_13:13), show that, although perhaps permitted ‘for the hardness of men’s hearts’ in earlier times, such human sacrifices were no longer admitted by the prophetic and legal interpreters of the Divine will to Israel. Comp. Lev_18:21; Lev_20:2, 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_23:10, Isa_57:5, Jer_7:31, Eze_16:20; Eze_20:26

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,.... If single burnt offerings of bullocks and heifers will not do, will rams, and thousands of them, be acceptable to him? if they will, they are at his service, even as many as he pleases; such creatures, as well as oxen, were offered by Balak, Num 23:1;

or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? for meat offerings, as Jarchi, in which oil was used: this is a hyperbolical expression, as Kimchi rightly observes; suggesting that he was willing to be at any expenses, even the most extravagant, if he could but gain his point, and get the God of Israel on his side. Some render it, "ten thousands of fat valleys" (d); abounding with corn, and wine, and oil; the produce of which, had he so many, he could freely part with, could he but obtain his end; see Job 20:17;

shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? his Son, his firstborn, his own flesh and blood, to make atonement for his sins and transgressions; this betrays the person speaking. The people of Israel, though they were sometimes guilty of this horrid, unnatural, and abominable sin, in the height of their degeneracy and apostasy, as to sacrifice their children to Mo; yet when convinced of their sins, and humbling themselves before God for them, even though but in a hypocritical way, could never be so weak and foolish, so impious and audacious, as to propose that to God, which they knew was so contrary to his will, and so abominable in his sight, Lev 18:21; but this comes well enough from a Heathen prince, with whom it was the, height of his devotion and religion, and the greatest sacrifice he thought he could offer up to God; for there is a climax, a gradation in the words from lesser things to greater; and this is the greatest of all, and what was done among the Heathens, Kg2 17:31; and was afterwards done by a king of Moab, Kg2 3:26.

(d) "in decem millibus vallium pinguium", Munster.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Fat. Hebrew, "torrents of oil." --- First-born, like Jephte, or the king of Moab, Judges xi., and 4 Kings iii. 27. Saturn taught the Phœnicians this impiety. (Eusebius, præp. iv. 16.) (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? the law did direct the offering of rams, single beasts for single sacrifices; if this be too little, they shall be multiplied, we will give many, very many; for the phrase is a hyperbole.

With ten thousands of rivers of oil: oil was required too in their sacrifices, in the meat-offerings of them, but in no great quantities, a log, or hin, i.e. half a pint, or three quarts; but we know such gifts are infinitely short of the Divine goodness bestowed on us; he who is our God is worthy of rivers of oil, multiplied to thousands; had we such store it should be all his. Such-like hyperbole you meet with in Isa 40:15-17.

Shall I give my first-born? this is proposed not as a thing practicable by any rule of reason or religion, but as a proof of their readiness, as Abraham, to offer up their first-born, as he did offer up his Isaac to God. It is much to part with any of our children, but it is more to part with the strength, and glory, and hope of our families; yet, like hypocrites, or like unnatural heathen, this they would do, rather than what would please the Lord.

For my transgression; to appease the anger of the Lord for my sins; would these be expiatories?

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? the question is repeated to affect us the more: the words would bear this reading, Shall I give my first-born? This would be my sin. The fruit of my body? These would be the sin of my soul.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thousands of rams, as though the quantity enhanced the value, and tended to dispose the Lord to regard the offerer"s thousandfold sinfulness with greater favour. Ten thousands of rivers (torrents , as in Job_20:17) of oil. Oil was used in the daily meal offering, and in that which accompanied every burnt offering. (see Exo_29:40 Lev_7:10-12 Num_15:4, etc.)

The Vulgate has a different reading, In multis millibus hircorum pinguium; so the Septuagint, en muriasi cimarwn arnwn , Alex. ptonwn , "with ten thousands of fat goats," so also the Syriac. The alteration has been introduced probably with some idea of making the parallelism more exact.

Shall I give my firstborn? Micah exactly represents the people"s feeling; they would do anything but what God required; they would make the costliest sacrifice, even, m their exaggerated devotion, holding themselves ready to make a forbidden offering; but they would not attend to the moral requirements of the Law. It is probably by a mere hyperbole that the question in the text is asked. The practice of human sacrifice was founded on the notion that man ought to offer to God his dearest and costliest, and that the acceptability of an offering was proportioned to its preciousness. The Hebrews had learned the custom from their neighbours, e.g. the Phoenicians and Moabites, (comp. 2Ki_3:27) and had for centuries offered their children to Moloch, in defiance of the stern prohibitions of Moses and their prophets. (Lev_18:21 2Ki_16:3 Isa_57:5) They might have learned, from many facts and inferences, that man"s self-surrender was not to be realized by this ritual; the sanctity of human, (Gen_9:6) the substitution of the ram for Isaac, (Gen_22:13) the redemption of the firstborn, (Exo_13:13) all made for this truth. But the heathen idea retained its hold among them, so that the inquiry above is in strict keeping with the circumstances. The fruit of my body; i.e. the rest of my children. (Deu_28:4)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thousands - Ever so many. Ten thousands of rivers - Were it possible to give them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

streams of oil—for meal offerings.

Shall I give my firstborn?—as a sacrifice for my transgression.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.